Cindy Gendrich: Why do we laugh?

Professor of Theatre Cindy Gendrich is one of those people who can’t stop herself from laughing, sometimes too loudly and at inappropriate times.

“I adore it when people tell funny stories at funerals, for instance, since it seems to me to be a way of celebrating the dead person’s life,” she said. “I laugh at inappropriate things at times, and I’m pretty interested in why that makes some people incredibly uncomfortable, and what is it about me and people like me who are looking for humor as sort of a release.”

Gendrich has received a $24,800 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her proposal, “Why do people laugh?”, to study the complexities of humor and to develop a first-year seminar.

She will discuss her research at this month’s Thursdays at Starling program on Nov. 4. The program, open to faculty and staff, will be held in Starling Hall beginning at 4 p.m.

Professor of Counseling Sam Gladding (’67, MA ’71) and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Sandya Hewamanne are also on the program. Gladding will discuss his recent visit to Turkey as a Fulbright Specialist. Hewamanne, recipient of the third annual Hatch Award for Academic Excellence, will discuss her summer research at Oxford’s Bodleian Library on the writings of a Buddhist revivalist and its impact on Sri Lankan women.

Gendrich has been teaching acting and theater classes at Wake Forest for 13 years. The idea of teaching a class on humor stems from her doctoral dissertation on comedy and 19th century actresses, but her interest is also personal. She was treated for Hodgkins disease in her late teens, and she found that something as simple as telling a bad joke helped her cope with her illness.

“I’d do little things like answer the phone saying, ‘Batcave, Robin speaking.’ Laughing put other people at ease and allowed me to find a release.”

The grant Gendrich received is from the Enduring Questions funding program through the NEH. The Enduring Questions program is aimed at creating programs that address some of the age-old questions of humanity, such as what comprises beauty or what is happiness.

The first-year seminar she is developing will delve into the psychology of laughter and why it’s good for the body, as well as exploring the social and cultural aspects of humor. The subject matter will be broad, and could include everything from Greek plays to South Park. she said. It will also address cultural differences that make some jokes funny in one place, while being offensive in others.

“A first-year seminar is a funny place to put this, but in some ways it’s the right way to teach them that they’re not in search of the right answer but in search of the process. It should get them thinking about their life as a chance to engage with these big, enduring questions.”